LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 8: California Governor Gavin Newsom (R) tours the downtown business district of Pacific Palisades as the Palisades Fire continues to burn on January 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Fueled by intense Santa Ana Winds, the Palisades Fire has grown to over 2,900 acres and 30,000 people have been ordered to evacuate while a second major fire continues to burn near Eaton Canyon in Altadena. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)
Sacramento, California – Governor Gavin Newsom is urging President Donald Trump to follow California’s lead in forest management, warning that federal inaction and troop diversion are undermining the state’s already strained wildfire defenses as peak fire season approaches.
At the heart of the governor’s request is a model executive order he sent to the White House this week, aimed at compelling the federal government to scale up its forest treatment and firefighting operations. Newsom framed the issue in stark terms, noting that 57 percent of California’s forestland is federally owned, while the state controls just 3 percent.
“We’ve done more than our fair share,” Newsom said in a press statement Tuesday, referencing billions spent by California in recent years to prevent catastrophic fire events. “Now the federal government has to do its part.”
The timing of Newsom’s appeal is no accident. It comes as more than half the members of Task Force Rattlesnake — a 300-person team of National Guard members trained to assist CAL FIRE — remain reassigned to Los Angeles as part of what the governor calls Trump’s “illegal federalization” of state troops in response to protests. That diversion has left fire crews operating at just 40 percent of capacity, even as temperatures rise and fire conditions worsen.
Compounding the strain are recent cuts to the U.S. Forest Service under Trump’s administration, including a 10 percent reduction in overall staffing and a 25 percent reduction in non-firefighting positions — cuts that experts say will hinder response times and coordination in remote areas where fires often start.
California and the Forest Service had previously pledged to jointly treat one million acres annually beginning in 2025. That goal has seen uneven progress. While last year saw over 700,000 acres treated — including a record 51,000 acres of prescribed fire — the momentum may be hard to sustain without consistent federal involvement.
Over the past five years, California has doubled its wildfire resilience investment, allocating over $2.5 billion to prevention and mitigation. New streamlined regulations, dozens of fast-tracked vegetation projects, and the deployment of additional aerial firefighting resources — including a second C-130 Hercules tanker — have signaled a ramp-up in the state’s long-term strategy.
But Newsom has made it clear that California cannot do it alone. “We’re ready to protect communities,” he said. “The question now is whether Washington is willing to meet us halfway, or whether we’ll be left fighting with one hand tied behind our back.”
As the threat of wildfire accelerates in a hotter, drier climate, the divide between state leadership and federal priorities is beginning to feel less like a policy disagreement and more like a test of resilience.
